Intel Jokes About its Own Culture in New Ads

There are some novel techie elements to Intel’s new “Sponsors of Tomorrow” ad campaign, which the Journal first reported yesterday. For example, next Monday a digital billboard in Times Square will display messages from texters at the New York intersection and those in other locations, including Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, where other digital storefront displays will be “linked for a multi-site, international texting experience,” as the company puts it.

Intel

But the real experiment will be to see if consumers warm to Intel’s attempts to make light about its own culture. One commercial, for example, shows female employees fairly swooning in the presence of an Indian engineer, described as an inventor of USB–or universal serial bus, which launched a gazillion thumb drives and other products. (Intel stresses that actors played these parts, not the company’s employees)…

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.